Dividing the Treasure

"Everyone contributed greatly to killing the Black Fiend Cult Leader this time, so there's no need for us to be modest with each other," Liu Jing stepped forward and said to everyone with a smile.

At this moment, he felt extremely happy. Being able to destroy this sect that practiced the evil art of blood sacrifice would surely add a glorious chapter to his reputation.

Everyone smiled knowingly upon hearing this, except for Xuehong, whose pretty face showed a hint of sadness.

Upon seeing this, Chen Qiaoqian immediately stepped forward and gently comforted her.

The others also put away their smiles and lowered their heads in silence, after all, the other party's Daoist partner was the only cultivator to die in this demon-slaying operation.

After a moment, Xue Hong gradually calmed down and thanked Han Li, expressing her gratitude for helping her Daoist partner avenge her.

Han Li nodded, and couldn't help but sigh to himself that even if one had cultivated to the Foundation Establishment stage, one could still die and perish if one was not careful.

This made him even more determined to cultivate to a higher level.

"Fellow senior brothers, now that the leader of the Black Fiend Sect is dead, we should hurry up and search all parts of the palace to see if there are any remaining cult members hiding. Junior Brother Han and I will not go; the aftermath of the battle here is still quite significant, and we need to clean it up."

Li Yunfan glanced at everyone and then stepped forward to speak to the others from Huangfeng Valley.

Upon hearing this, everyone's minds began to stir. They had come here not only to eliminate demons and uphold justice, but also with other intentions.

The Black Fiend Sect has been entrenched in the Yue Kingdom for so many years, and naturally they have collected a lot of spirit stones and treasures. These are the real reasons that drove them to come here.

Even Liu Jing, a righteous man who usually hates evil, had a slight glint in his eye, clearly showing that he was also very tempted by the Black Fiend Sect's treasures.

"Senior Brother Li, the Black Fiend Sect leader was killed by Junior Brother Han. You should come with us!" Chen Qiaoqian reminded him.

She had no idea what Li Yunfan was planning, nor did she know that Han Li and he had already become sworn brothers. However, even as she faced the treasure that was about to be obtained, she was still worried that Li Yunfan would receive less of it.

Li Yunfan understood the meaning behind her words. Looking at this beautiful woman who cared so much for him, he felt a warm current flow through his heart and gave her a friendly smile.

"I won't go. I didn't suffer any losses in this battle, and the Black Fiend Cult leader should have quite a few good things on him. Junior Brother Han can just share a little with me. What do you say, Junior Brother Han?"

Finally, Li Yunfan turned to look at Han Li, and with his back to everyone, winked slightly at him.

Han Li immediately understood and stepped forward with a smile.

"Since you've said so, senior brother, I certainly won't be stingy. Senior brother Liu, you should take the other senior brothers and sisters with you. I need to spend some time dismantling this great formation. We'll meet up with you after we're done."

Liu Jing glanced at the two men. Although he had some doubts, since Han Li, who had killed the sect leader, hadn't objected, he naturally wouldn't say anything more.

The others had even less to say about it.

After Han Li released the great formation, the others flew to the palace on their magical artifacts and began a thorough search.

Seeing that the group had disappeared, Li Yunfan and Han Li exchanged a glance and revealed a smile that only the two of them could understand.

Han Li swayed and disappeared from his spot, heading to the bamboo forest to collect all the array flags he had set up.

Instantly, the protective barrier covering the sky vanished without a trace.

As the array's protective barrier disappeared, the Yue Emperor's corpse, now a pile of rotten flesh, fell from the sky.

Li Yunfan immediately cast a lightness spell on himself and nimbly leaped toward the location of the Yue Emperor's corpse.

Looking at the Yue Emperor's corpse scattered all over the ground, Li Yunfan frowned. Although he had killed cultivators before, he had never beaten someone to such a state of shattered bones and mangled flesh. An extremely uncomfortable feeling surged up in his body.

He released his divine sense to examine the area carefully before raising his hand. A white, misty handkerchief flew out from under a piece of meat with bits of cloth attached and landed in his hand.

This handkerchief is slightly yellowed and emits a faint fluorescent glow. It is also outlined with an incomplete map.

"This is the pass to enter the Void Heaven Palace? Then the map drawn on it must be the inside of the Void Heaven Palace. It's a pity that I won't be able to see the true face of the Void Heaven Palace in person." Li Yunfan carefully examined the handkerchief and thought to himself with some regret.

After thinking it over, he gently tossed the handkerchief upwards, controlling it to float above his head, before waving his hand to gather the other items as well.

A pitch-black alms bowl, a jade slip emanating a grayish-white aura, a blood-red pointed cone about an inch in size, and four pills of different colors.

Li Yunfan flipped his hand, and the blue pill he had found in the ice demon's corpse appeared out of thin air in his hand. He gently tossed it upwards and placed it together with the other four pills.

He didn't put these things into his storage bag, but let them all float above his head, and just stood there looking at the jade slip.

The reason he didn't put it into his storage bag was entirely for Han Li's benefit. Although Han Li now trusted him completely, he still wanted to openly display his gains.

The fact that he left the body of the Yue emperor untouched and stood there waiting was all part of his way of showing sincerity to the other side.

After all, trust is mutual. If one party is always calculating, the trust built up between the two parties will eventually collapse.

Sure enough, after a short while, Han Li retrieved all the array flags, leaped a few times to Li Yunfan's side, and saw the several items above Li Yunfan's head, as well as the unprocessed corpse of the Yue Emperor, and immediately understood.

A smile appeared on his face. He didn't use his divine sense to examine Yue Huangdu's body at all. He simply patted the storage bag at his waist, and a golden light flew out, punching a large pit in the ground next to him. He then released a burst of spiritual power to push Yue Huangdu's corpse into the pit and waved his hand to cover it with soil.

"Second brother, these are all of Emperor Yue's relics. Take a look," Li Yunfan said with a smile as he withdrew his divine sense from the jade slip.

Then, with a flick of his hand, the object floating above his head slowly flew to Han Li's front.

"The five pills must be the Blood Condensation Five Elements Pills!" Han Li glanced at them briefly before fixing his gaze on the five pills, saying with some anticipation.

"That's right! There's a one-in-three chance that after consuming them, you'll successfully form a 'Fiend Pill' similar to a Core Formation cultivator's Golden Core. However, once you consume it, you'll completely cut off the path to further advancement." Li Yunfan nodded in affirmation first, then said with a wry smile.

"A Demonic Core? Unable to advance any further?"

Upon hearing this, Han Li's expression shifted between light and shadow. He had only learned from the young prince that this item was helpful for Core Formation, but he never expected it to have this effect.

"These are all records inside the jade slip. You'll understand once you read them yourself." Li Yunfan said, then tossed the jade slip over.

Han Li took the jade slip and pressed it to his forehead to examine it carefully. After a while, he took it off with a somewhat unpleasant expression and said with annoyance.

"So, all our hard work was for nothing?"

"Not entirely. Although you can't consume them yourself, having them allows you to create a cultivator in the early stage of Core Formation. This gives you an extra fighting power when facing an enemy, which is quite good. Look at the bottom of the jade slip; it records the secret technique for refining an external avatar." Li Yunfan smiled slightly and said softly.

"An avatar?" Han Li's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately examined it again.

After reading the record of this secret technique in the jade slip, he finally smiled and said, "So it seems that the Yue Emperor had the same idea back then, and the black-robed man he absorbed was an incarnation he created."

The two then began to divide the items. Apart from the jade slip which Li Yunfan made a copy of, he didn't want the rest. According to him, as the older brother, he should take care of his younger brother.

Although Han Li loved to take advantage of others, he couldn't bring himself to betray his elder brother's sincere feelings, so he took out three jade boxes from his storage bag and handed them to him.

Those were some thousand-year-old spiritual herbs he had left behind when he used the small green bottle to accelerate the growth of spiritual herbs. They were originally intended for unforeseen circumstances, but now they were being used as a substitute.